


World on Fire

by Natasi (SwordDraconis113)



Category: Lost Girl
Genre: Angst, Gen, Implied or Off-stage Rape/Non-con
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-24
Updated: 2013-03-24
Packaged: 2017-12-06 07:26:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/732990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SwordDraconis113/pseuds/Natasi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lauren swallowed, feeling her hands stiffen. “He’s a child,” she murmured softly. “A...ah, a toddler.” Taking a breath, she smiled tightly. “He’s been taken from a friend. They took him in the night and...I need your help.”</p><p>It was meant to be quick. Get in, get the child, get out. But things were never simple when it came to them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	World on Fire

Lauren swallowed, feeling her hands stiffen. “He’s a child,” she murmured softly. “A...ah, a toddler.” Taking a breath, she smiled tightly. “He’s been taken from a friend. They took him in the night and...I need your help.”

Bo nodded, “of course. Anything.”

“She’s scared, Bo. He’s just a little boy...” she trailed off smiling. “He’s so small, you know? And he’s just started talking. He’s actually quite clever...”

“You really care about him.”

Lauren laughed. “Yeah. I was there for his birth. I kept in touch.” She shook her head, jaw clicking as she buried her hands deep into the lab coat. Inside the pockets, she fiddled, squeezing her fingers around the loose contents nervously. “I know who did it. I mean, I don’t know, but it makes sense.”

“You have a lead?”

“Yes. He’s the father. He...the child’s half fae, not that that makes a difference to him - his...biological dad.” Lauren’s eyes averted, staring down at the carpet as she tried to focus her thoughts. “His father is a...well he’s an inugami, and he’s dangerous, Bo. He feeds off the desire of vengeance, and rituals to evoke him are complex and crude and-” she took a deep breath, strangling her emotions. “We need to avoid him.”

“We?”

“I’m not letting you do this alone. I can’t. This child, he’s important to- Ana, my friend, and I need to make sure he’s okay.”

“Lauren, you should be with your friend, make sure she’s okay-”

“No.” Lauren shook her head, glaring, “I’m going. I need to go.” She turned away then, blinking furiously as she walked over to the maps on the desk. “Hale gave me permission and I...I got house plans, and notes. Inugami are dog spirits and he- Akira is dangerous, he’s a scavenger, and appears as a hyena at times so you might not know it’s him or...”

She was making excuses. But she needed to be there.

Bo watched Lauren’s hands shake as she searches through the information. Even her masked expression trembled as she hurriedly flicked through the scrolled papers. “Here.” Lauren turned around, handing Bo the map. “He’ll have put him in the nursery, I think. If we enter through the back room, there should be a balcony that we can-”

“Have you been here?” Bo asked.

Lauren swallowed, meeting Bo’s eyes, “Once. Akira’s Light Fae, I-” she smiled bitterly, “I was his doctor a few years ago. That’s how I met my friend.” She took a sharp breath and smiled. “Will you do this for me?”

“Of course.”

“Hale can’t, he... Technically there’s no proof. Akira’s supposed to be dead, I was promised he was-” she shut her jaw, shaking her head as she contained her frustration. “But there were talks and if he’s alive, he’d be here.”

“Lauren,” Bo reached out and awkwardly Lauren pulled away. Sighing, Bo looked down at her hands. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”

Lauren froze, slowly raising her eyes to look into Bo’s. She was afraid, Bo could see that. “We should leave. We should...before he moves him. If we leave it too long Akira will disappear and I...I can’t let that happen. Ana would never forgive me.”

Bo stepped back, watching Lauren pull off her lab coat and carelessly toss it over the chair. “Do you want to leave now?” she asked.

“Time is important,” she murmured. “If I don’t...he might get on a plane back to Japan. I can’t have that.” Bo watched her grabbed a few items together, dressing in quieter, dark clothes. For once, Bo came to see the soldier-side of Lauren she’d forgotten about.

Surprised, she only now looked over Lauren’s apartment. It wasn’t the pristinely cleaned house she was used to. Notes and papers were scattered around the room. Coffee mugs were left out, plates unwashed. “Are you okay?” she asked.

“I’m fine. Let’s just go.”

Lauren quickly braided her hair back as they walked to her car, adjusting the bag on her shoulder as she went. It was filled with maps and papers that Bo was sure Lauren already had memorised.

“We’ll park half a kilometre away,” Lauren spoke out loud, “the fence will be easy to jump as long as we avoid the cameras. He’s not high-tech, just basic security. Akira relies mostly on guards to keep him safe in his estate, anything else would draw attention to him.”

“How long have you been planning this?”

“Ana called me this morning.” She watched Bo turn the ignition as she sat back in the carseat, an air of nervousness around her. “We can’t screw this up. We just get in, get Nathaniel and then get out. Nothing else.”

“How are we going to jump a fence again with a baby?”

Lauren shrugged. “We’ll make it work. You’ll go over first and I’ll climb up with him, then pass him to you.”

“It seems easier to ambush him at the airport or something. Are you sure want to do this Lauren? This sounds dangerous.”

Lauren shook her head. “I can look after myself.”

“No I didn’t mean-”

“It has to be tonight. I don’t know when he’s leaving, how he’s leaving. I can’t lose this chance. If I-” she shook her, clenching her jaw as she looked back down at the notes. “If the sitting room’s door is locked, which is shouldn’t be, we can break through the basement window and work our way up.”

Reaching over, Bo squeezed her hand. “It’ll be okay. We can do this.”

****

* * *

****

“Here,” Bo handed Lauren a dagger. “I know you’re a doctor...but just in case, okay?” Lauren looked down at it, pausing only a moment before she nodded and placed it into her boot. “So...what’s the plan, doc?”

Lauren had been cold this evening, unreceptive to anything Bo offered unless it was directly related to the case. “That sitting room door, with the balcony, should be open. The patrol takes a regular shift and there’ll be a change in seven minutes-”

“How do you know?”

“Someone owed me a favour, but-” Lauren went quiet, watching from her crouched position in the garden, as the sitting room’s light went on. It was quiet for a few minutes, before someone opened the door and stepped out. In the distance, Lauren couldn’t tell who, but Bo watched as the doctor tensed, looking ready to make a run for the ledge.

Snatching her wrist, she kept Lauren down, glaring at her. “What’s your problem?”

“It’s him. I know it is. ** **"****

“I can’t see him so I doubt you can.”

“I know it is,” she hissed. “I could get close, I could-”

“Even if it is, he’ll see you running no matter what, or a guard will catch you. And if you get close enough, there’s probably a guard in there, so that when he goes down you’ll have no chance.” She relaxed her hold, watching Lauren’s body relax in defeat. “I thought you wanted to avoid Akira.”

“I wanted you to avoid him, but if there’s a chance, I’m not missing it to get rid of him forever.”

Bo stared at Lauren suspiciously. Usually she was emotional, and Lauren was the logical one. “How close are you to this friend?” Bo asked.

“Very,” Lauren murmured. “She was my only friend before...” she looked at Bo and sighed. “She was the only one I could talk to about the fae without judgement. It was refreshing then. And now...” Blinking, she watched the man turn back to talk to someone in the sitting room.

Lauren’s heart beat fast, adrenaline making tremors in her legs and arms, even as she forced herself to remain still beside Bo.

“Thank you.”

“For what?” Bo asked.

“For helping me.”

“Always.” Bo observed Lauren curiously, watching as her jaw clenched while she fiddled with blades of grass. In front of them, the man moved back inside. Bo counted ten breaths before rising.

Lauren was quick to follow, making a silent dash for the stone wall before they pressed against it.

The ledge was an easy climb. A few scrapes against the wall, but quiet. By the time Lauren ducked inside, the room was empty, and Bo was pressed tightly beside her. The room was as elegantly decorated as she suspected from the size of the manor. Almost extravagantly with marble and gold plating.

Too over-done for her taste. She turned, facing the doctor who was poised by the door as she quietly opened it.

Lauren signaled. It was odd using army gestures again. She had taught Bo the basics (hold, move, to the left or right, how many enemies were around and what she wanted to do) but most of them were unnecessary for this, it turned out.

They walked quietly, Lauren leading the way, completely silent in her muffled short-heeled boots until she found herself pressed against a door to lessen the noise. Slowly she opened and peeked around as Bo kept guard, staring out for any movement before she slid inside behind her.

“Nathaniel!” Lauren murmured, rushing to the crib, but her expression fell short as she peaked over the edge, and quietly picked up the small teddy bear.

“Lauren?”

Lauren shook her head, hand running over the toy as thumbed over the teddy’s handmade shirt. Bo’s eyes ran around the room, noticing that it was sparsely kept. No other toys or objects were in the room except for the crib. “Lauren, I think this is a-”

“Doctor Lewis, it has been a while.” Lauren gasped, tensing as she dropped the bear, ”And look, you brought the unaligned succubus.”

Akira stepped from the shadows and Lauren’s expression shifted dangerously. Bo grabbed at the weapon on her hip before she felt someone grab her shoulders. A paid goon, no doubt, and she tensed steady as her own twin dagger to the one she gave Lauren, was pressed to her throat.

“Now, now, no one needs to get hurt.”

“Where is he?” Lauren demanded.

“He is not here.”

Lauren growled, eyes hard as she poised steady, “Where is he?” she asked again, cold and vicious. For a moment, Bo was terrified. She’d never heard Lauren’s anger so violent in just words. Not like that. All resolve that she knew to be the doctor, was stripped away, dissolved by hatred towards this Akira.

“What does it matter?” he asked her. Bo looked between them, confused as she stared at the odd twisted familiarity between Lauren and Akira that had to extend beyond doctor-patient.

She didn’t get it yet. Or she didn’t want to believe what she saw.

“He’s not yours.”

“And he’s not yours, either Doctor Lewis. You gave him up.”

“To protect him,” she bit back.

Bo froze, the tension not gone unnoticed by Akira. His dark eyes turned, settling on her briefly with a smirk before he flicked back to Lauren. “Did you tell your girlfriend?"

Lauren moved forward threateningly and for a horrifying moment, Bo was sure she’d lunge and tear his throat out with her own teeth. But Lauren held hard onto control and kept her fists by her sides. “Give me back my son.”

Akira gestured and Lauren was grabbed. Regardless of the two trolls holding her, she didn’t flinch and instead defiantly struggled, her attention solely on the man in front of her. “I think not.”

“Give him to me. He’s mine.”

“But he’s not, is he?”

Bo tried to reach behind her, grab at the large, burly man, but the guard was unaffected by her touch. There was no rise in energy, no shiver or shudder. Shit.

Lauren didn’t even look to her, her body still struggling as she screamed at Akira to return Nathaniel to her. With a wave, Akira dismissed them.

“Take them to the basement.”

They were tugged, pulled from the room. But th walk was short and Bo tried to keep note of the twists and sudden turns. Lauren was deathly quiet, plotting her escape as she was dragged along beside her.

“We’ll get him,” she tried to whisper reassuringly. Lauren glared, and Bo flinched back, quiet. Why had Lauren lied to her about this? she wondered, hurt as she was marched down stairs and then painfully shoved into a cell. When she turned, the door was locked behind her.

Beside her, she watched as Lauren was thrown into the adjacent cell, forced onto her knees. Akira could have mocked, could have chuckled, but he offered nothing more than a sharp slap across her face. Lauren’s head held in place as Akira left, locking the door himself. Bo was sure that he only followed to make sure they were locked up accordingly before he returned to wherever Nathaniel was.

Lauren remained hunched over, even after the sounds of steps had receded up the stairs. Fearful, Bo scrambled over, clutching at the bars as she looked over. “Lauren?”

There was the quiet muffle of sobs, before Lauren took a gasping breath and sat back on her knees. “I lost him,” she murmured, hopelessly. “I had a chance and I screwed up. I should have known Akira would move him. Know I was coming.”

“Why didn’t you tell me he was your son?”

“He’s not, he’s...” She shook her head, bitterly laughing, “I gave him up.”

“Why?”

“The Ash said it was for the best. If I didn’t have to face...he promised a good home, someone who would love him. And Ana did. She loved him as though she’d been the one to carry him, breastfeed him.” Staring up at the ceiling, Lauren shut her eyes. “I couldn’t, I couldn’t be the mother he deserved, not when he might...and what happened when he grew up?” she asked. “And start asking about his father? What was I to say then?”

It took a few moments, before Bo’s mouth fell open, “Oh Lauren.”

“Don’t,” she snapped. “I don’t want... That’s why I didn’t say anything. He’s not my son, and I don’t want your pity.” She glared for a moment, breathing hard before she shook her head. She wasn’t angry at Bo, she was just angry.

Starring, Bo watched as Lauren tensed her shoulders, taking a moment to compose herself before she rose to her feet and moved to the locked door. Her fingers fiddled over the area before she reached into the pocket of her pants and pulled out two thin pieces of metal Bo recognised.

Silently, she watched before asking Lauren, “Do you pick locks?”

“I used to, Nadia taught me.”

“Why?”

“Her apartment didn’t have a key back in college,” she murmured. “Probably why the rent was so cheap. She didn’t seem to mind.”

“It seems like I’m learning a lot about you this evening,” Bo smiled. Lauren didn’t reply, her face was quiet as she worked for the next twenty or so minutes it took to pick the lock. Her fingers were careful, precise though clumsy compared to how she used to be. It’d been years since she had needed to pick a lock.

When the lock finally yielded and clicked, Bo looked up expecting Lauren to push through and walk to hers. She didn’t.

The door swung open and without a sideways look, Lauren began hurrying to the stairs.

“Where are you going- Lauren?” She hissed.

“I’m getting back my son.” The steps retreated, and Bo stood, clinging to the bars as she watched Lauren leave.

****

* * *

****

The guard fell to his knees and Lauren clutched the dagger, wiping it against her thigh clean before she lent down and buried her hands into his pockets. Grabbing the mass of keys, she stuffed them into her own pockets before moving on.

She knew where her son was, and barely bothered trying to be quiet when she walked up the stairs.

The set of keys opened any door blocking her path and soon she found herself at the end of a hallway. The guard gasped, reached for his waist, but she was quicker. When he had dropped to the ground, lifelessly staring out at the once-white carpet, she ripped open the master bedroom door.

Akira stood in the centre of the room, mildly surprised as he turned around to face her. Lauren’s eyes fell to Nathaniel, cheeks red from crying. At the tug in her chest, she took a step forward, a hand partly lifted towards him.

“You won’t,” Akira said, gesturing to the gun Lauren had taken from the door guard. Lauren paused, looking down at it idly before raising her eyes to him. She was eerily calm as she watched him rock Nathaniel’s small frame.

He was a small child, but in the last few months, even Lauren had been surprised at how fast he’d grown. He was so beautiful, so smart and wonderful.

Unsettled, he squirmed in Akira’s arms uncomfortably, staring out at Lauren. Nathaniel’s eyes, a warm, golden brown, were opened wide. Tearful as his lip quivered. She should never have given him away. Never have left him unprotected. This was her fault.

Lauren knew she’d never forgive herself for this. But she was going to make it right.

“You’re not a killer Lauren.”

“You wouldn’t be the first I’ve killed,” she replied. She rose her finger over the trigger threateningly, forcing herself to meet Akira again. Nathaniel squirmed, voicing small complaints as his tiny hands reached for her. Lauren stared at him, her own hands trembling to hold the gun steady. “Nate,” she breathed.

“You’re not at war any more.”

“I’ve killed after the war,” she bit back. Her attention was torn between Akira and her son as Nathaniel’s eyes welled up again, his fingers curling into fists threateningly. He was scared, she knew. He wanted her. He recognised her.

Akira smirked, trying to soothe Nathaniel as he spoke, “you haven’t killed in front of children.”

Lauren laughed bitterly, raising her gun to target his leg. “I’ll shoot you knee first; you’ll fall down, I’ll take him from you and then I’ll kill you. And I’ll watch your brain explode when I fire a bullet straight into your head.”

“It’s been a while since you shot a gun, Lauren. Are you sure you won’t miss?”

The gun shook in her grasp and Lauren cursed herself. Damnit this was her chance. She panicked, breath shallow as she looked between Akira and her child. If she missed though. No she couldn’t let Akira place doubt.

She wouldn’t miss. Not if she aimed at-

Nathaniel screamed then, his soft murmurs of complaint coming out in a sharp cry as he wailed for his mother. Lauren’s doubt dropped from her as she stepped forward, “Shh, no baby, it’s okay. I’m here. Don’t be scared.”

Akira struggled, wrestling to contain him as Nathaniel screamed out again, reaching for his mother as tears slipped hotly over his face. Her son’s hands reached out, pushing from his father as he cried for her. Lauren’s felt her heart pound desperately at the sound. At the cause of it. She moved closer, murmuring towards him, her fingers close enough now she could almost brush his dark tufts of hair if she reached.

“Quiet!” Akira tried, unsettled by the child. “No, Nath-”

“Stop it,” Lauren barked, “place him down, place him down now.” She gestured with the forgotten gun, moving closer, faster as she reached for her son. Akira held him close, jiggling him desperately and wrong. Nathaniel screamed horrifically again, pulling away as he strived for Lauren. She was barely a foot away. She could reach him, hold him. Wipe the tears away.

She could fix this.

“No!” Akira broke as Nathaniel slipped from his grasp. Lauren panicked, her hands squeezing only briefly in fear as she lunged forward. A shot rang through the air, deaf to her ears as felt the hot metal slip from her fingers forgotten. Her hands reached out enclosing around her son and pulling him to her chest.

She almost fell back, stumbling in the movement as she sobbed. He was okay, her baby was okay and she was holding him again.

Crying, she turned, pressing Nathaniel to her heart, his head on her shoulder as she hushed him. Kissing his cheek, his head. His small fingers curled around the dark shirt she wore as his breath softened, his cries quiet murmurs and incoherent speech. Lauren wrapped her arm around him protectively and suddenly she could breathe. Her heart slowed calmly as she softly spoke, “I’m here, baby, I’m here.” Over and over as she squeezed her eyes shut in thankful mercy.

When the fear had slipped from her, and reality pressed forward with Akira’s sharp breaths, Lauren looked down at her feet, watching where he was doubled over, clutching where the bullet had shot through him. She reached down quickly then, grasping at the gun before his slowly edging fingers could.

Then, as she held her son close, shielding him from Akira, she met his eyes.

“Lauren, ple-”

****

* * *

****

Lauren hummed happily, looking down as she brushed fingers over his hair. Bo switched the gear shift, watching out the corner of her eye. She knew the lullaby, an old one that her mother, that Mary, used to sing to her when she was little.

“Let me take you away.”

“What?” Lauren looked up from Nathaniel, staring at Bo’s face. She was lit only by small dull lights from the dashboard, but Lauren could see the hard expression. The succubus was prepared to turn the car around and drive them to the edge of the world if she had to.

“Let me take you away. You, and me and Nate. We’ll run far from the fae, from anyone and everyone. We can leave now and they won’t have time to catch up.”

“Kenzi-”

“I’ll leave her a cryptic email or something, and she’ll find us. But I don’t care about anyone else. I don’t....” she paused, unclenching her hands around the steering wheel as she glared out at the road ahead. The city was over an hour away. There was a turn-off just after the gas station. She could take that turn off, continue on the highway and they’d never look back.

“He’s gone. Akira’s dead.”

Bo shook her head, “I don’t care. Someone else might come. What about the rest of his family?” she asked, “would they feel as strongly towards Nathaniel as Akira had?”

“Yes,” Lauren whispered.

“Would they try?”

Lauren swallowed, shutting her eyes as she tried to think.

Bo hadn’t been mad at her when she’d walked down the stairs back in Akira’s house, her eyes had gone to the toddler in her arms, and she’d smiled. Lauren hadn’t realised how much of a relief that was until she’d pushed open the cell door, and Bo’s arms had wrapped around her, pulling them both close as she begged Lauren never to do that again. Not without her.

Everything had washed over her then and for a long moment, she’d crumbled in Bo’s arms, crying until Nathaniel needed her more than she needed to give in to her emotions. She hadn’t done that in a while. And in front of Bo was...

Comfortable, unsettling perhaps, but comforting to know that the succubus thought of her no-less in that moment.

They could start a life together, get honest jobs and hide somewhere. “I used to live on a farm, you know,” Bo said to her. “We could get a small piece of property, live out in the middle of nowhere. I could be the farmer, and you could still be a doctor. We’ll get some cattle maybe, or horses. Grow our own food. We could get a small cabin and just...live off the grid.”

Lauren smiled, “It sounds nice,” she admitted. “But the fae would come looking, if not for me then you.”

“I don’t care. I know how to run, to hide. And Kenzi knows people.”

“What about Dyson?”

“I don’t care.”

“Trick? Hale?”

“I don’t care,” Bo shook her head, briefly pulling her eyes away from the road to look at Lauren. “I care about you about him,” she nodded to Nathaniel. “Everyone would understand, and I don’t care if they don’t.”

“Yes you do.” Lauren sighed. “And say we did run. Where would we? We don’t have any money. Not on us immediately.”

“I’ll call Kenzi. Ask for her to bring some clothes and stuff, she’ll understand.”

“And then what?”

“We drive.”

“Where?”

“Anywhere. Far from here. We’ll fly to Australia, I don’t care.” Slowing down the car, she pulled off from the road, unbuckling her seatbelt to look at Lauren, “he’s your son, Lauren. And I...I want to be a part of that. I want you to raise him and I want to be there.”

“He has a mother,” she reminded softly.

“But you’re his mother. You love him.”

“And I gave him up, I can’t just take him back. That’s not fair on Ana.”

Bo shook her head. Blinking as she bit her lip. Lauren was right, she knew she was right, but she didn’t want her to be. She wanted to love her, love Nathaniel wholly and fully, have them run off and start a family. Live in peace. She didn’t want to go back home, not if Lauren could be in danger, or Nathaniel. Swallowing, she met Lauren’s eyes again, “And when they find out Akira’s dead, what will his family do then?”

“They won’t. They already think he’s dead.”

“Are you sure?”

“Bo-”

“I know. I know. But we could have a life.”

“I want that, I do, but not like this,” reaching out, Lauren grasped and squeezed around Bo’s fingers, “we’d be on the run constantly. We’d be hiding from everyone. And every time we see a familiar face, or think someone’s looking at us a little too suspiciously, we’d be packing up and leaving again. What kind of life is that to raise a child?”

Bo breathed out, nodding in defeat, “Okay. We’ll go back. We’ll go back to the fae, to Ana and we’ll...do what you want. What’s best. But at the first sound of Akira’s family coming, at even a whisper. I’m taking you and I’m taking Nathaniel, and we’re leaving, okay?”

Lauren swallowed, looking down at her son. “Okay.”

**  
**

**Author's Note:**

> A big thank you to wily-one24 who talked out a scene after I backed myself into a corner (and helped in an area I only had a little idea of) and another massive thank you to doccutroll who kept me in line and fixed a lot of the issues that I hadn't noticed. Without these two I would have scrapped it, or only pulled out a pitiful single thousand worded one-shot.
> 
> The title is based from a song called World on Fire by Les Friction, which I basically wrote the entire piece too (it's a fantastic dramatic song I got from a Cora, Regina video of the same name, that's absolutely incredible and I suggest checking out if you love Regina and/or Cora)
> 
> And as a last note: this was set around between season 2 and 3.


End file.
